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IN ILLINOIS SPECIAL PRIMARY, A VICTORY FOR KELLY … AND BLOOMBERG – Alex Isenstadt reports for the hometown paper: “A multimillion-dollar ad blitz by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to stop an NRA-backed House candidate in Illinois paid off Tuesday night, as local official Robin Kelly crushed more than a dozen Democratic candidates vying to replace disgraced former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Bloomberg and gun control proponents seized on the results as evidence of momentum in their push to enact President Barack Obama’s gun control package. The mayor will take that message to Washington Wednesday in meetings with Vice President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), according to Bloomberg’s public schedule. Bloomberg’s visit coincides with a hearing the Senate Judiciary is slated to hold Wednesday on a proposal to ban assault weapons.

-- “With [99] percent of precincts reporting in the Democratic primary, Kelly, the Cook County chief administrative officer and a former state representative, held a [52] percent to 24 percent lead over Debbie Halvorson, a former congresswoman. Anthony Beale, a Chicago alderman, had 10 percent. The outcome marked a major win for Bloomberg, who spent around $2.3 million attacking Halvorson for her pro-gun views and propping up Kelly. The ad blitz swamped the underfunded ex-congresswoman and prompted her to brand him as an out-of-town billionaire trying to buy a House seat. In the wake of the tragic Newtown, Conn. shootings, and with Chicago’s violent streets as its backdrop, the race emerged as a referendum on the national debate over gun control. … His Tuesday win signals that Bloomberg is ready to play another outsize role in 2014, targeting gun-supporting candidates.” http://politi.co/13SH1q6

--Democrats are pursuing a piecemeal approach to gun control, Reuters’ Thomas Ferraro reports: “President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats in the Senate have spread his gun-control proposals across four bills in an effort to get at least some of the less controversial measures - such as expanded background checks for gun buyers - passed into law. The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote as early as Thursday on the bills, which together amount to an acknowledgement by Democrats that a ban on military-style ‘assault’ weapons is unlikely to clear Congress.” http://reut.rs/YXpPx9

LIBERAL SUPER PAC APOLOGIZES FOR TWEETS ABOUT McCONNELL’S ‘CHINESE’ WIFE – Phillip Bailey reports for WFPL in Louisville: “Hours after being roundly condemned by Democrats and Republicans, a liberal super PAC is apologizing to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's wife for a series of controversial Twitter messages. The group's Tweets accused former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, who was born in Taiwan, of moving American jobs to China and that her ‘Chinese (money)’ was buying state elections. Critics slammed the comments as racially offensive, and a national backlash against the group was ignited. Progress Kentucky executive director Shawn Reilly says they remain dedicated to educating voters about McConnell's record, but their messages ‘included an inappropriate comment on the ethnicity’ of the former labor secretary.

-- “‘We apologize to the secretary for that unnecessary comment and have deleted the tweets in question. In addition, we have put a review process in place to ensure tweets and other social media communications from Progress Kentucky are reviewed and approved prior to posting,’ he says. Reilly had initially balked at expressing regret despite a spokesperson telling WFPL an apology was forthcoming. But after Democrats such as actress Ashley Judd, who is the rumored opponent for McConnell in 2014, denounced the Twitter messages Progress issued the apology late Tuesday evening.” http://bit.ly/Y09Fly

-- The Super PAC had also suggested in tweets that McConnell was gay, reports BuzzFeed: “In two tweets, both of which have since been deleted, Progress Kentucky accused McConnell of being gay, including calling the Senate's top Republican ‘a gay-bashing gay senator.’” http://bit.ly/12aqXov

TODAY’S GOP MESSAGE: 1,400 DAYS WITHOUT BUDGET -- House and Senate Republicans will highlight the 1,400th day since the Democrat-controlled Senate passed a budget with a coordinated push online, including a new microsite featuring videos, news, op-eds, and other resources. The effort,spearheaded by Conference Chairman John Thune and Vice Chairman Roy Blunt, will include a Web video highlighting some of the events (creation of the iPad! Facebook surpasses MySpace!) that have taken place in the nearly 4 years since the Senate had a budget. GOP'ers will continue to highlight their efforts on Twitter today using #NoDemBudget.

-- Speaker John Boehner today will release an infographic on things a person could do with their $52,000 share of the national debt. For example, your share of the debt could cover seven years’ worth of grocery bills or four years of rent. http://1.usa.gov/XFQuOO

FEDS RELEASE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AHEAD OF IMPENDING CUTS – Kirk Semple reports on A1 of the New York Times: “Federal immigration officials have released hundreds of detainees from detention centers around the country in recent days in a highly unusual effort to save money as automatic budget cuts loom in Washington, officials said Tuesday. The government has not dropped the deportation cases against the immigrants, however. The detainees have been freed on supervised release while their cases continue in court, officials said. But the decision angered many Republicans, including Representative Robert W. Goodlatte of Virginia, who said the releases were a political gambit by the Obama administration that undermined the continuing negotiations over comprehensive immigration reform and jeopardized public safety.

-- “‘It’s abhorrent that President Obama is releasing criminals into our communities to promote his political agenda on sequestration,” said Mr. Goodlatte, who, as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, is running the House hearings on immigration reform. ‘By releasing criminal immigrants onto the streets, the administration is needlessly endangering American lives.’ A spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security, said the detainees selected for release were ‘noncriminals and other low-risk offenders who do not have serious criminal histories.’ …

-- “[I]mmigrants’ advocates around the country have reported that detainees were freed in several places, including Hudson County, N.J.; Polk County, Tex.; Broward County, Fla.; New Orleans; and from centers in Alabama, Arizona, Georgia and New York.” http://nyti.ms/WqQFNy

-- In an interview with CBS Evening News host Scott Pelley, Speaker John Boehner called the administration’s actions “outrageous.” "This is very hard for me to believe, that they can't find cuts elsewhere in their agency," Boehner said. "I frankly think this is outrageous." Watch here: http://cbsn.ws/13ji23Q

SALTY LANGUAGE – Earlier in the day, Boehner told his GOP conference that Republicans won’t act to replace the sequester until the Democratic-controlled Senate “gets off their ass.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Boehner’s language had little effect on him. “You know, I was raised in a little town that had 13 brothels in it, so I’m use to pretty salty language as you know,” Reid began his presser. … “I think he should understand who is sitting on their posterior. We’re doing our best to try to pass something.” http://politi.co/YzaeoN

SENATE GOP MULLS SHIFTING POWER TO OBAMA TO HALT SEQUESTER – Manu Raju and David Rogers reports for the hometown paper: “Days before the March 1 deadline, Senate Republicans are circulating a draft bill that would cancel $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts and instead turn over authority to President Barack Obama to achieve the same level of savings under a plan to be filed by March 8. The five- page document, which has the tacit support of Senate GOP leaders, represents a remarkable shift for the party. Having railed against Senate Democrats for not passing a budget, Republicans are now proposing that Congress surrender an important piece of its Constitutional ‘power of the purse’ for the last seven months of this fiscal year.

-- “As proposed, lawmakers would retain the power to overturn the president’s spending plan by March 22, but only under a resolution of disapproval that would demand two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate to prevail over an Obama veto. The proposal would require — like the sequester — that no more than $42.6 billion of the cuts come at the expense of defense programs. But the elaborate, almost Rube Goldberg construct is already provoking sharp criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike and reflects a political scramble to escape the fallout from the sequester. Indeed, a rival Republican proposal to instead come up with alternative cuts and not cede power to the president was already circulating Tuesday night, a 31 page draft bill crafted by Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.).” http://politi.co/13m3Syp

PHIL GRAMM: THE NATION WILL SURVIVE – The former Republican senator from Texas writes in a WSJ op-ed: “President Obama's message could not be clearer: Life as we know it in America will change dramatically on March 1, when automatic cuts are imposed to achieve $85 billion in government-spending reductions. Furloughed government employees, flight delays and criminals set free are among the dire consequences the president has predicted. … Scare tactics such as these are similar to the ones that were made when I co-authored the first sequester legislation in 1985, the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act. The 1986 sequester was triggered anyway, but the predicted disaster never came. The nation survived then. It will now. …While Mr. Obama may choose to make the cuts ordered by the sequester in the most painful way possible, the best alternative—which is practiced every year to some extent—is allowing federal agencies to transfer funds among individual programs with congressional approval or by rearranging priorities as part of the March 27 resolution to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year.” http://on.wsj.com/ZAdXmK

The Virginian-Pilot, A1, “OBAMA: TELL CONGRESS IT’S TIME TO COMPROMISE,” By Bill Bartel in Newport News, Va.: “President Barack Obama implored thousands of workers at Newport News Shipbuilding on Tuesday to lobby members of Congress for a compromise that would halt $85 billion in budget cuts set to begin Friday. ‘These cuts are wrong,’ Obama said, arguing that automatic reductions in defense and domestic programs will threaten thousands of jobs in Virginia, harm education programs and hurt the national defense. ‘They’re not fair. They’re a self-inflicted wound that doesn’t have to happen.’ Speaking in a large hangar normally used to assemble submarines, Obama singled out U.S. Rep. Scott Rigell for praise during his 21-minute speech. He cited the Virginia Beach Republican’s willingness to avoid the cuts through a combination of new revenue from eliminating some tax loopholes and from targeted spending cuts. Rigell and Rep. Bobby Scott, a Democrat from Newport News, accompanied Obama on the flight from Washington. …

-- “Rigell was invited by the White House to ride Air Force One from Washington to Hampton so the two – and Scott, whose district includes the shipyard – could talk. Rigell said he and Obama reached some agreement during a ‘very substantive’ three-way conversation. The president said he would support two dollars in budget cuts for every one dollar in new revenue, Rigell said. ‘I said, ‘I’m in at two-to-one.’ I prefer three-to-one. But there are some in Congress who want nothing (in new revenue). … We’re in agreement in principle.’ But Rigell said he’s still not hearing enough specifics from the White House regarding how to avoid the automatic cuts.” http://bit.ly/15ilPN2

**A message from The Beer Institute:America’s brewers, beer importers and suppliers support real jobs. Beer is a $223 billion industry supporting 1.8 million American jobs. We help put people to work, from farmers to factory hands, bartenders to brewers, in nearly every community in the United States. Learn more at http://bit.ly/VJ1rBL.

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 27, 2013, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of the day’s congressional news. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to swong@politico.com. If you don't already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC.

My new followers include but are not limited to @RepMarkCardenas and @CortBenn.

TODAY IN CONGRESS – The Senate is in at 10 a.m. Sen. Reid said it was his hope to proceed to the consideration of the nomination of Jack Lew to be Treasury secretary. The House also is in at 10, though no votes are scheduled.

Reps. Peter DeFazio and Jason Chaffetz unveil the SHIELD Act to combat patent trolls at 10:30 a.m. in HVC Studio B. President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner and other congressional leaders dedicate the Rosa Parks statue at 11 a.m. in Statuary Hall. Sen. David Vitter speaks on energy legislation at 11:30 a.m. in the Senate Studio. Rep. Raúl Grijalva joins immigrant rights advocates in support of more effective and humane border safety policies, 12:30 p.m. at the House Triangle.

At 12:30 p.m., Sen. Marco Rubio will speak about his trip last week to Jordan, Israel and the West Bank, during a discussion at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 1828 L St. NW, Suite 1050. Press wishing to attend must register in advance with Brittany Parker at press@washingtoninstitute.org. The event will be broadcast live at: http://www.livestream.com/WashingtonInstitute

At 1:45 p.m., Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) gives his maiden floor speech, the first in his freshman class to do so.

HAGEL CONFIRMED 58-41; GOP MAKES NICE – Tim Mak and Stephanie Gaskell report for POLITICO: “They beat him up for months — in TV ads, in op-ed pages and in Congress, with delay after delay before his confirmation on Tuesday. But now that Chuck Hagel is set to take the top job at the Pentagon on Wednesday, many of his Senate opponents seemed ready to mend fences just hours after trying to derail him. As Hagel’s confirmation cleared the Senate floor 58 to 41, key Republican opponents who tried to wreck his nomination were already engaged in the Washington ritual of trying to make nice with their opponent after spending weeks opposing him. ‘I like Chuck,’ said Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama — who once said he had ‘dramatic concern’ about Hagel’s opposition to nuclear weapons and voted against him on Tuesday. ‘I’ve been reluctant to criticize him, but I did disagree with some of his policy positions. He went through a tough confirmation, was asked appropriate questions … I would think that personalities won’t be a problem.’” http://politi.co/13SvKWY

COCHRAN STILL ON THE FENCE -- Asked if he had made up his mind about retirement, Cochran, a 40-year veteran of Congress, told Huddle Tuesday: “I’m seriously considering running for reelection.” But would his Hagel vote give him any problems during a potential primary? “I hope not,” he replied.

-- In the days before the vote, Shelby faced enormous pressure from Alabama Republicans to reconsider his support for Hagel. Quin Hillyer writes in the American Spectator: “The Steering Committee of the Alabama Republican Party has taken the rare step of officially requesting that one of the state’s two GOP U.S. Senators change a publicly announced position in a high-profile Washington battle. Specifically, the state party leaders have passed a resolution ‘respectfully call[ing] upon’ Sen. Richard Shelby to ‘reconsider and reverse his decision to support Senator [Chuck] Hagel to be Secretary of Defense.’” http://bit.ly/Y21tUR

JACK LEW’S NOMINATION to be the next Treasury secretary easily cleared the Senate Finance Committee on a 19-5 vote, a sign he’s all but certain to be confirmed by the full Senate.

FIGHT NIGHT: ELLISON VS. HANNITY – Dylan Byers flags this clip from Fox News: “Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison attacked Fox News host Sean Hannity on-air tonight in what is surely one of the most explosive and contentious interviews between an anchor and a politician in recent history. Rep. Ellison began the interview by calling Hannity ‘the worst excuse for a journalist I've ever seen.’ He went on to accuse Hannity of violating ‘every journalistic ethic I have ever heard of’ and called him ‘a shill for the Republican Party.’ Hannity calmly endured the attacks from the Minnesota congressman and tried in vain to assure him that he was not a registered Republican, but rather a registered conservative. He finally gave up and told Rep. Ellison to ‘keep ranting.’” Watch here:http://politi.co/13nhzNM

RUBIO WOOS WALL STREET – Maggie Haberman and Ben White report from New York: “Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is moving swiftly behind the scenes to lock down some of Wall Street’s biggest donors ahead of the 2016 presidential race. In recent weeks, the rising GOP star and possible 2016 hopeful has quietly met with some of the most powerful GOP backers in the world of high finance. The roster includes Blackstone Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman, KKR CEO Henry Kravis and senior executives at Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital, among others. Rubio has gotten backing from big Wall Street titans before, notably hedge fund manager and billionaire Paul Singer. But the fresh round of private meetings with top names has Wall Street buzzing about Rubio’s future plans. ‘It was a first date. And he’s doing lot of them,’ said a person familiar with Rubio’s meeting with Schwarzman, who heads one of the biggest private equity firms on Wall Street.” http://politi.co/WqBgwP

-- Rubio told celebrity site TMZ that Lil Wayne, who’s proclaimed himself the new Tupac, can’t compare to the late West Coast rapper. “There’s only one Tupac,” Rubio said. http://tmz.me/XaAgka

HOUSE LIKELY TO PASS VAWA THIS WEEK – Jake Sherman writes for POLITICO: “House Republicans seem to be resigned that their version of the Violence Against Women Act is a loser with their own members and are likely to pass the Senate bill this week without changes. The GOP leadership has set up a floor process that would allow the chamber to vote on the Senate bill if they cannot pass their own version of the domestic violence legislation. The Republican bill — which has encountered rough water — will be set up as an amendment to the Senate’s bipartisan bill. And if that amendment fails — which Republican insiders expect — the House would then vote on the Senate’s bill. … The move is, essentially, a concession that House Republicans cannot pass their own version of the Violence Against Women Act after many, many months.” http://politi.co/13Sz4RM

TUESDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – Marda Robillard was first to correctly answer that as a child, President Lincoln was knocked unconscious for many hours after being kicked by a horse.

TODAY’S TRIVIA – Robillard has another Lincoln question: President Lincoln was the only U.S. President granted a patent, but for what was that patent granted? First to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day’s Huddle. Email me at swong@politico.com.

GET HUDDLE emailed to your Blackberry, iPhone or other mobile device each morning. Just enter your email address where it says “Sign Up.” http://www.politico.com/huddle/

**A message from The Beer Institute: America’s brewers, beer importers and suppliers support quality jobs. Beer is a $223 billion industry supporting more than 1.8 million American jobs in every state and every community across the nation. We help put people to work in grocery stores, warehouses, breweries and farms. All told, America’s brewers and beer importers pay $71 billion in wages and benefits to our employees. The last time Congress hiked federal excise taxes on beer, more than 60,000 Americans lost good-paying jobs as a result. Hiking beer taxes again would only ask middle-class beer drinkers to pay a greater tax burden, while threatening middle-class jobs. Learn more at http://bit.ly/VJ1rBL.